Small voter turnout expected

Several changes are in store for Southwest County voters, some
of whom will start heading to the polls at regional malls,
including The Promenade in Temecula, as early as next week to cast
ballots for the Nov. 6 consolidated election, officials said
Friday.

But those changes aren't expected to increase local voter
turnout, said municipal officials, who believe that a 30 percent
turnout in a non-general election, which is status quo, would be a
reasonable estimate for this year.

Among some of the more notable alterations in voting procedures
are an extended early voting period and special accommodations for
the handicapped, said Mischelle Townsend, Riverside County
registrar of voters. But the biggest change, she said, was moving
the registration deadline to within 15 days of the general
election, instead of the previous 29 days. That change was approved
by state lawmakers last year.

Prospective voters in the county now have until Oct. 22 to
register for the November election, Townsend said, as opposed to
Oct. 9.

"That is going to create some complications," said Townsend,
referring to an excess workload election staffers should see when
absentee ballots begin coming in at the same time as an expected
influx of new registration filings. "All the data from the close of
registration that has to be entered will overlap with the data
entered from the absentee ballots filed." Typically anywhere from
10 to 20 percent of eleigible voters cast their ballots by mail
ahead of tthe general election.

There are 10,224 registered voters in Lake Elsinore, 21,947 in
Murrieta and 28,054 in Temecula, as of Oct. 12, said Pauline
Chamberlin, deputy director of the registrar's office. That means
an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 voters should file absentee ballots
from those cities, based on the registrar's calculations. And
voters who live outside city boundaries will be casting ballots for
various school districts.

Voters have been able to file absentee ballots at the
registrar's office since Oct. 9, Townsend said. But regional malls
in Temecula, Riverside (Galleria) and Palm Desert (Westfield
Shoppingtown) will be set up for early voting from Oct. 15-28.

Voting hours at those sites will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m, while
the registrar's office, where ballots will be accepted through Oct.
30, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Blind voters will be accommodated
at those sites with a new audio headset feature, Townsend said.

Despite an additional two weeks being added to the early voting
period and the increasing popularity of the county's electronic
voting system, a voter turnout of 30 percent is about as much as
can be expected in an "off-year" election like this, local
officials said.

During the last such election in 1999, about 28.6 percent of the
19,605 registered voters in Murrieta cast ballots, said City Clerk
Kay Vinson. By comparison, about 26.7 percent of the 22,002
registered voters in Temecula turned out for that election, and
29.5 percent of the 9,289 voters in Lake Elsinore cast ballots
during the same period.

"Thirty percent would make me happy," said Vicki Kasad, city
clerk for Lake Elsinore.